Data Entry Keyers in Illinois
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$34,626
after federal, FICA and Illinois tax
Tax takes
$8,214
19.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$35,027
Illinois costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Illinois — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$42,840
Kept after tax
$34,626
Worth in national money
$35,027
State rank
19
of 49 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Neither high nor low. Illinois is 19 of 49 states for data entry keyers, with a middle wage of $42,840. What that is worth is the question the rest of this page answers.
- Within Illinois this is lower-paid work. Of 494 occupations the state publishes figures for, data entry keyers ranks 409. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
- No great distortion either way. Illinois costs about what the country costs, so from $42,840, take-home of $34,626 is worth roughly $35,027 in national money. The average comes to $44,540, above the middle, thanks to the top of the range.
- Illinois ranks 19 of 49 for data entry keyers at $42,840. The nominal figure is unremarkable; the adjusted figures are where the state's actual position for this occupation is determined.
- Against every occupation Illinois reports, data entry keyers ranks 409 of 494, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
- Price parity in Illinois is near the national base, so for data entry keyers, whose median is $42,840, the adjusted figure of $35,027 differs little from $34,626 retained after tax. The state's position for this occupation is therefore set by wage and tax rather than by living costs. At $44,540 the mean overshoots the median — the usual right-skewed shape.
Compare this career across states
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Pay band: Data Entry Keyers
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $31,200 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $42,840 |
| Top tenth earn over | $59,920 |
| This salary | $42,840 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Illinois | $34,626 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $36,602 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | +$2,639 |
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $40,381 |
|---|---|
| You could take a cut of | −$3,191 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 99 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Treat $42,840 as a midpoint for Illinois, not a promise. The tenth percentile is $31,200 and the ninetieth is $59,920 — a wide band, and where you land in it depends on far more than the state.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Illinois's $34,626, worked from $42,840. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 409 of 494.
- Two cautions on $35,027, the adjusted value of that $42,840 median. It levels out prices with a single number for all of Illinois. No actual address matches that. The wage figures and price figures are also from different years. Each is published on its own timetable. This work sits at 409 of 494 locally.
- The Illinois median of $42,840 describes the midpoint of a distribution spanning $31,200 to $59,920. Because that spread is typically larger than the interstate spread, a state median is a weak predictor for any individual worker in this occupation.
- The Illinois take-home of $34,626, on $42,840 for work ranking 409 of 494 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 409 of 494 in the state.
- This $35,027 adjusted figure, worked from $42,840, rests on a state-level price parity averaging over within-state dispersion larger than much of the between-state dispersion. Wage and price vintages differ by publication schedule. The result is directionally sound and not address-specific, for work at 409 of 494 in the state. The occupation ranks 409 of 494 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
Half earn more than this and half earn less. The average sits at $44,540 because a long tail of high pay lifts it, so the two answer different questions.
How much does pay for this job actually vary?
Most of these jobs pay within a close range — $31,200 at the tenth percentile, $59,920 at the ninetieth.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
A smaller wage in a cheaper place is not automatically less. Adjusted for local prices, this is worth $35,027.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Illinois's own levy, $34,626 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 49 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Illinois is $44,540. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?
The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($31,200 to $59,920) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Illinois rather than a national figure.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Illinois's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $35,027 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $34,626 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Illinois income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 49 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.